False Economies?

“A fool is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.”

Oscar Wilde

This tale starts with my ankles – or more correctly, a recent attack of tendon pain. Serious enough to make me jack in jogging for a week or three, hoping that a bit of rest would allow it to heal. Guess what; it didn’t. I was approaching the point where I was about to start to try to get a doctor’s appointment for their professional view when my trusty hiking trainers – my usual footwear – decided it was all too much and fell apart on me.

Once I’d finished making the purchase decisions (and more importantly, punch my poverty mentality into the corner to get it to ‘allow’ the expenditure) I discovered almost immediately that the new footwear eased my ankles. And a few days later, I’ll cautiously say I think I’m on the mend.

The conclusion here is simple enough; it was my old trainers which was either the culprit or the aggravator. When looked at logically, this news isn’t surprising when my fag-packet told me I’ve clocked up perhaps sixteen-hundred miles in them, while footwear experts say you should look to replace after five hundred. Now, I did try to buy quality but there’s no way I could afford that level of it.

Conclusion; that in the desire to ‘save money’, I ended up injuring myself (hopefully, not permanently). That is, in my book a false economy – that not only did I cause myself pain, but also hindered my ability to do other stuff (like for example, jogging).

Big Picture

While most folks are aware of the term ‘false economy’ (when scrimping on up-front costs increases the spend in the long run, à la the ‘Vimes Boots Theory‘), I prefer to widen it’s definition somewhat; to represent the wastage of other finite resources (such as time, personal energy etc) or when the ‘cheap’ option costs more in intangibles (such as physical pain, in my shoes example). So, without further padding, is my list of personal ‘false economies’ – remembering that every rule has at least two exceptions…

#1: Footwear. The classic example. Most know the foolishness of buying cheap shoes which fail in their basic purpose and/or fall apart; but I’m sure the more common failure is in wearing footwear beyond it’s natural life – just because they’re still physically together doesn’t mean they’re still wearable. As I learned above.

#2: Underwear. One of those areas where women have the edge; most know the value of a good bra and the desires to avoid VPL leads to at least a cursory inspection of pants. Overuse is once again the most common ‘economy’ here; the wearing of them after they’ve stopped providing effective support (it’s said you should replace between six and twelve months… but doesn’t mention how many times you wear them before chucking).

Socks can often hit the ‘clean but still stinky’ point before physical decrepitude, which honestly isn’t doing you, or your shoes any favours. Yes, there are often ways to (hopefully) deal with this problem, but unless you’ve got a large load to treat I would class it as a waste of your time doing it and simply bin them.

#3: Clothing. Yeah, I’m not going to give you the ‘green’ bitch about it. Or the ‘fast fashion’ one. Or even the ‘wasting cash’ one. I’m just going to point out the simple fact that you’re paying for storage space of your collection, you shall spend time and effort maintaining the collection and lastly, you’ll spend time going through the collection trying to find something suitable, often at a time you don’t have that time to spare.

I think it was about five years ago I learned about the ‘capsule wardrobe‘ concept, and while the argument for it is strong, I’m not a huge fan. Too confining, too muted, too rigid. Hey, I’m not that hot on doing the laundry, okay? Nor do I live in a land where the weather’s that predictable. Instead, I’m much more the ‘simplified wardrobe’ sort; focusing on general compatibility, flexibility and practicality. Often I buy two, three or even more copes of the same item (once I realise it works); offering a happy medium between ‘not knowing what to wear’ and ‘not having anything to wear because your only pair of black jeans are dirty’. Oh, also wise to try to aim to have as many pieces able to be washed together too – specialist items are a pain.

#4: Mattresses. If playing The Sims only has one ‘life lesson’ in it, ‘buy the best bed you can afford’ is it (no, ‘have a bin in every room of your house’ is the other). For like the game, the better your bed (primarily your mattress, though the bed itself helps) the better your sleep shall be, which shall equal more energy, less grouchiness and improved health. After all, you’re gonna be spending almost a third of your time on the damn thing, it’s logical to put this right at the top of your purchases list.

My theory is; people don’t really realise how much time they spend in bed; something understandable, as we don’t recall most of it. And if you think I’m wrong on this one; tell me, why don’t we sleep on uncomfortable school chairs, park benches or bean-bags?

#5: Fresh Fruit & Vegetables. A controversial choice, I know, but I feel I’ve got a decent case to argue here. My argument is simple enough; that so much cheaper fresh produce is relatively tasteless, some to the point where you wonder why the hell you even bothered to buy it (like I did earlier this year). If you have produce which gives you poor experiences, the chances are you’ll be less inclined to eat it, ultimately increasing wastage (and so per-unit cost). And if you’re trying to get your five-a-day, it’s easier to do it if the items actually taste nice.

However, there are other options (though naturally, not all shall be open to you). A fresh produce box service to your door, greengrocers at markets, more high-end grocery stores. One option often overlooked is the ‘ethnic’ stores; they often stock fresh produce which sometimes can be much better. Sure, it’s more expensive… but it’s not like with like, here.

One last item I’ll mention here for consideration is the bulk purchase of close-dated items. Yes, I know I talked about doing home-frozen fruit and vegetables before, but when it comes down to it the often surprisingly long time of prep-work to sort/clean/chop/bag the stuff makes it a false economy – ending up spending an hour of my life doing something to ultimately save a couple of quid. These days, I normally only bother doing it if I can’t find the products already frozen.

#6: Bulk Buying. The first seemingly counter-intuitive example; ‘but bulk buying saves money in the long run!’. Well… perhaps. Many of the bulk-buying minuses are the same as the previous one; the costs of you storing, curating and searching through your ‘bargains’ to get what you actually need. Yet in this case there’s also the risk of ‘spoilage’; most things shall become unusable (one way or another) eventually – for example, damaged or deteriorate in storage.

Even if we assume you don’t buy a ‘dud’ (like say, a flavour you turn out to dislike) there’s also the issue that a portion of your cash is now locked in as ‘inventory’. Depending just how much buying you do, this could end up as a surprisingly large amount of funds (and space). Truth is; the money is only shown to be ‘saved’ by the time all the purchases have been consumed.

#7: Selling Items. I might write more on this at a later date, but for now, be satisfied with this maxim; if you are thinking of selling something second-hand, forget it – chances are, it’s effectively worthless. Of course, there’s exceptions (there is to all of these) – but not many. My rule of thumb; unless it’s an item which an average pawnbroker’s would be interested in or has a known market (such as near-mint genuine collectables, large electrical items or cars) it’s ultimate value is effectively zero.

The main culprit here is the costs of actually selling the damn thing. Be it in person or online, I’ve seen folks try and fail to sell stuff – ‘decent enough’ stuff too – for a price which would actually give them a return even half the minimum wage. I’ve even seen folks fail to give stuff away. And they wasted a hour or two of their lives trying to shift the fucking thing too. That’s hours you ain’t gonna get back.

#8: DIY. Okay, I’m no Hank Hill, but I’m competent enough to deal with flat-packs, making general repairs, decorating and so on. Generally speaking, most folks who have been poor end up being a bit ‘handy’ – there’s no other choice, it’s either you do it or nothing happens. Yet I would only paint a room or fit a carpet if I was genuinely unable to afford a tradesperson to do it.

My reasoning is twofold. Firstly, the tradesperson would do a better job – almost no doubt about that. The other is that chances are, they’d do it quicker than I would too; in fact, DIY projects can become serious time-sinks for the unwary or unlucky. It’s all about opportunity costs; it’s quite possible that you’d be better off in the whole by using those painting-hours to work elsewhere, to earn the cash to pay for the painter to do it right.

#9: Repairing/Maintaining Items. Similar gig as the previous point; completing the repairs shall often end up being quite a serious time-sink and may become even less economically viable if you need to buy a few specialist items to complete (even if said items are fairly cheap). That’s not even taking into account the issues of learning how to do it…

In my experience, there’s a kind of ‘gap’ in these tasks – items that aren’t ‘worth’ enough to warrant taking it to a ‘professional’ to sort out, but worth too much to simply dispose of (own personal example; coat with split pockets). Result; they end up being undone indefinitely, or you spend many a hour trying to sort it yourself. Examples of these can include clothing alterations, leather item refurbishment, garden tool maintenance, lawn-mower servicing, basic furniture repair and re-potting houseplants.

And the solution is also simple enough; find (and pay) someone else to do it. In times like these, most could do with a bit more cash in the pocket, and there’s quite a lot of folks out there who are relatively ‘time rich’; for example retirees. Ask around your personal network, there’s even freelancers sites out there (though they’ll be more expensive, but more professional). And if the repairs mean you can avoid more spend on replacement items, all the better.

#10: Cheap/Free Delivery. We’ve all been there; awaiting the drop-off of our precious purchases, watching the tracker on the screen… then for it to vanish, for the driver’s running late and has conveniently ‘had issues with the device’. Or you’re stuck at home, mentally bitching because they’ve missed their delivery slot and you’ve got shit to do, y’know. Even better, the delivery turning up when it wasn’t supposed to, being left in the rain and in full view of the street…

The seriousness of the situation, naturally depends on the circumstances; but if you’re getting a decent amount of parcels and/or grief (couriers seem to find it difficult to find my address, for a personal example) it is perhaps worth looking into alternatives – such as renting a parcel drop-off location at a mailbox company. Like above, it’s not exactly cheap, but if you’re relatively time-poor it’s something worth looking into (or simply your time is more productively spent elsewhere). Also going ‘upmarket’ for the better delivery option might be possible, though that’s often something which is in the hands of the sender, not you.

* * *

Okay; some or perhaps most of these may not apply to you, and there’s always going to be exceptions to the rule. But the above are – in my opinion – at least worth considering. And not the same old ‘false economies’ listicles which most folks have worked out eons ago.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my Frugality and Essays series.

Protein Inflation?

Another day, another little refresh of old blog content; today’s turn was my ‘Price of Protein‘ post. And while I mulled over whether I should update the prices mentioned (I decided not to, as the actual figures are irrelevant to the post’s purpose) I wondered; in this era of inflation and supply shortages, have protein costs gone up as much as it feels they have – a feeling partly generated (admittedly) by me yesterday looking to re-stock my ‘shake’ and ‘cooking’ powders online and coming to the conclusion the former was now a luxury I can no longer afford (a conclusion which I suspect I am not alone on having).

So, without further ado, the comparisons (in pence per gram of protein)…

	April ’20	August ’22	Increase
Milk	1.7p	1.8g	6%
Peanut Butter	1.8p	1.8g	0%
Pork Chop	1.9g	2.1g	10%
Cheddar Cheese	2.0g	2.1g	5%
Eggs	2.5g	2.6g	4%
Minced Beef	2.6g	3.1g	19%
Chicken Breast	3.2g	3.6g	13%

To the best of my ability, I’ve compared the same retailers; though I can’t be sure. The message is clear, however – while there has been inflation, it’s generally concentrated with meat. Now with the bars…

	April ’20	August ’22	Increase
Sci-Mx Pro Duo Bar	7.5p	10.0p	33%
Trek Protein Flapjack	9.0p	9.8g	9%
PhD SmartJack Protein Flapjack	10.0p	10.6g	6%

Now, this isn’t 100% accurate as I found it difficult to find a stockist for the last, but again, rises which were somewhat more rapid than what we are accustomed to. Though I really cannot explain why the Sci-Mx has gotten so expensive…

	April ’20	August ’22	Increase
MaxiNutrition Progain Protein Shake	5.0p	7.1p	42%

Which explains why I went ‘ouch’ when I was looking to top-up my shake powder. Though this product is now ‘MaxiMuscle’ and they’ve done the shrinking con (1.5kg has become 1.2kg). Well, perhaps it’s whey protein which is causing this…

	April ’20	August ’22	Increase
Bulk Powders Pure Whey Powder	2.5g	3.9p	56%

Yeah. It’s the whey powder. Gotta be; I know from personal experience that other protein powders haven’t over doubled in price. However, whey comes from milk, and that’s only gone up by 6%… odd.

* * *

The little lesson for today being; it pays to re-evaluate your own nutritional habits now and then, comparing to current prices and your finances. In times like this, you’ve gotta be sharper with the creativity, particularly as everyone else is ‘upping their game’ too, and some of your old tricks no longer seem to work that well (or at all, on occasion). We become creatures of habit, not really paying attention to the prices of things until they become so glaringly out of whack. Or we run out of money. Which is quite probable for some of us this coming winter…

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Facts correct at date of posting. Part of my Frugality series.

‘Eating While Poor’: 2022 Challenge (Part 2)

The second half of my own personal ‘Eating While Poor’ challenge; where I try to see just how far a diet can be realistically squashed finance-wise before it stops fulfilling it’s nutritional needs. Why do it for another week? Simply put; I’ve not had enough attempts at different cheap meals to finally come to a conclusion regarding what could be viewed as a bare minimum for one person.

The rules of this challenge, plus the first week’s experiences can be viewed here; with no further ado I’ll continue the challenge…

Eighth Day

Half day. I’ve run out of my fibre bars, so it’s an apple instead. Another serving of cocoa porridge for breakfast, hoping it’ll prove to have enough staying power in the stomach while out to avoid consuming any expensive barred products. Also made a thermos of tea to take with me, along with my last pear.

Plan works, though it was somewhat a close call by the time I’d got home. Perhaps better to have a banana too next time. Another cream cheese sandwich as a late lunch; noting that I’m getting close to finishing the wholemeal loaf I’d bought a week ago and frozen. Daily foraging turns up some reduced salami and potatoes; dinner is an attempt at a ‘one-pot’ meal; beef mince, baked beans and onion affair, cooked on one ring – I’d bought said mince cheap and frozen a while earlier. Result; rather nice, in fact; but much of this was down to the use of condiments. Supper was the salami as a sandwich.

Conclusions: Got between four and six, depending on your classification of tomato ketchup and baked beans as counting. Salami (or any form of preserved meat) is not a viable solution for meals – the salt and saturates are too high. At least not more than very occasionally. At 65p, the ‘main meal’ was not much more expensive than the porridge (though that was down to the bargain meat I used and cannot be relied on). In both costs and nutrition, there’s quite a good future for baked beans – even if you (like me) go with the ‘lower salt’ option.

Energy	2085 cal
Fat	47g
…which is saturates	18g
Carbohydrate	271g
…which is sugars	159g
Fibre	42g
Protein	135g
Salt	6.3g
Items Consumed	£3.08
Items Bought	£0.61
Items Disposed	£0.00

Ninth Day

Day off. Fibre cereal for breakfast, have some grilled mushrooms with egg and beans for lunch, mainly to use up the former. A nice change from the never-ending sandwich. Snacks; a bag of ‘nuts and seeds’ I’d got as an end-of line way back and a softbake which came from I’m not sure where. Picked up some cheese and some Heck Meat-Free Chipolatas going cheap, along with some bread rolls. Guess what I had for dinner; melted cheese rolls, with cucumber. It was tasty, though I knew this cost was going to be high…

Conclusions: Hard cheese is not a viable major component of diet – far too much saturated fat. Normally, I’d microwave the cheese and drain off the excess fat, but this time it didn’t work on the variety chosen (Wensleydale). Mushrooms are decent enough, though lacking in the calories make up for it for their fibre, protein and relative low cost. Two/three portions of fruit and veg, depending on your consideration of baked beans.

Energy	2061 cal
Fat	80g
…which is saturates	36g
Carbohydrate	199g
…which is sugars	77g
Fibre	41g
Protein	102g
Salt	4.4g
Items Consumed	£2.76
Items Bought	£1.25
Items Disposed	£0.00

Tenth Day

Breakfast was several of last night’s chipolatas in the other two rolls with some sauce and onion; spent the morning homeworking, snacking on frankly too many lentil cakes which I’d given up reviewing due to the fact there was nothing to review. Lunch was a few of said cakes, with some cream cheese. Afternoon was work; got through an apple, a couple of clementines and a cup of tea. Lucked out on the evening forage; a load of protein bars and shakes and some bakery croissants. Plus, got given a few pears too. Picked up some jam for said croissants; slightly shocked that the branded ones had now breached the £2 barrier. Also, another cucumber.

Dinner was one of those which shouldn’t have been; milk, jam and croissants. I paid for that by the simple fact it didn’t even really fill; ended up having one of the bars I’d purchased – a ‘LighterLife Bar’ – later on that evening.

Time to do another inventory/clearout of the fridge; disposed of a small grab-bag of old fruits and vegetables, a couple of old over-frozen bread, a jar of marmalade which came from the wrong year and a protein shake which had all generally speaking, been forgotten about.

Conclusions: Unsurprisingly, a load of croissants were not a wise choice; they were over 650 calories, over half my salt allowance and all my saturated even before anything was put with or on them. However, proof (if any was needed) why diets can fuck up; my constant hankering for ‘something a bit tasty‘ led me to paying 25p to scratch that itch. It’s the pies back on the Second Day all over again. Only two portions of fruit/veg today.

Energy	2582 cal
Fat	74g
…which is saturates	36g
Carbohydrate	379g
…which is sugars	133g
Fibre	34g
Protein	96g
Salt	9.3g
Items Consumed	£2.90
Items Bought	£8.40
Items Disposed	£2.75

Eleventh Day

Day off. Cocoa protein porridge for breakfast, clementines and a pear for snacking. Finished off the remaining Cauldron sausages for lunch, decided to combine this with cooking up a decent piece of chicken breast from the freezer for dinner.

Spent a bit of time online; read that baked beans do count as your ‘five-a-day’, but tomato ketchup didn’t. Also read a couple of articles on ‘how to save money off your food bill’ which told me nothing new. Went out to the discounter’s for peanuts and bananas, found at a supermarket on the way home a load of date bars and some milk going cheap. The former went into the cupboard for packed lunches, the latter mainly got frozen into cubes for later tea and coffee consumption; had to throw a little of it away, mind.

As another meal test, I had the earlier chicken, with some couscous and steamed green beans I’d found in the freezer earlier – the former done with just a kettle and the latter in the microwave (along with the chicken). It tasted good; though I do need a bit more practice cooking this method so I get the times lined up.

Conclusions: Peanuts or chicken; not both. Or perhaps the date-ball I ‘tried’. The higher ‘consumption cost’ today was down to the said chicken. The green beans were good and cheap, mind – I knew this before, but not how cheap until I worked it out now.

Energy	2368 cal
Fat	83g
…which is saturates	14g
Carbohydrate	242g
…which is sugars	158g
Fibre	41g
Protein	161g
Salt	5.4g
Items Consumed	£3.34
Items Bought	£2.83
Items Disposed	£0.05

Twelfth Day

Now, I had a nice description of this day and the next done, but the crappy word processor I’m using decided to both crash and fuck up the recovery save, so you’ll have to simply put up with the bare-bones account I’ve reconstructed from my notes.

This day’s lunch comprised me trying out doing a jacket potato in the microwave; it wasn’t completely successful, but enough that it suggests it’s a viable method of cooking for this. I also didn’t appreciate that it was in fact possible to jazz it up somewhat using just a few condiments.

Shopping for this day was some cheap carrots, grapes and kiwi fruits; the latter two hopefully to counteract my constant hankering for sugar. Dinner was egg and baked beans on toast. This proved to be somewhat better nutritionally than I – and I suspect others – would believe.

Conclusions: Once again, baked beans come through with their good fibre rating and decent protein at an affordable cost. The low consumption cost for today is explainable due to two things; the lack of meat and the relative lack of fruit (two portions). Peanuts also helped here.

Energy	2072 cal
Fat	78g
…which is saturates	12g
Carbohydrate	238g
…which is sugars	98g
Fibre	51g
Protein	90g
Salt	4.6g
Items Consumed	£1.84
Items Bought	£1.53
Items Disposed	£0.00

Thirteenth Day

Another bare-bones review. A day at work, so the usual barred affairs, fruit and some peanuts (instead of my normal peanut bar). Was hugely hungry by the time I’d finished; popped in to a supermarket on the way home and picked up some very cheap Polish cheese which I had with some economy pasta I’d mainly bought to see if the gripes about it being disgusting were warranted (they aren’t that bad, in conclusion). However I did end up producing a cheap, but tasteless meal. Oh, and I had way too much of it, calorie wise. Oh, I also picked up some more peanuts and milk; noticing that the latter’s price had gone up by 8.5% since last week. And that the noodles I’d had last week risen by similar. (That’s nothing; today I noted another discounter’s noodles had risen by 14%).

Anything else? Oh, kinda screwed up doing pasta in the microwave. Think it cost as much energy as if I’d done it conventionally. Later reading suggests that I should have boiled the kettle and then have let the pasta ‘stew’ in the pot for some time.

Conclusions: That cheap pasta had more protein in it than I thought; though I still think in this case was a false economy – at least my usual pasta tastes of something, meaning that slathers of sauce are unnecessary. Could a person live like this? Yes. But only if they had to. It’s pretty grim and your resolve would buckle quick. Three to four portions today; depending on your classification of the dates in one of my bars.

Energy	2709 cal
Fat	93g
…which is saturates	22g
Carbohydrate	387g
…which is sugars	148g
Fibre	35g
Protein	90g
Salt	2.9g
Items Consumed	£1.82
Items Bought	£2.46
Items Disposed	£0.05

Fourteenth Day

Thank god this is nearly over; if nothing else, doing all this is a time-burglar extraordinaire. Today was one of those days which you seem to mainly graze; I got the calories in but don’t really remember eating that much (mainly due to the fact much of it came from date-balls, peanuts or the cheap protein shake I’d bought and has proven to be… interesting).

Went for my usual forage; discovered a couple of cheap cooked chicken pies. Said pies became my dinner – I wanted to see if nutritionally they were much better than the scotch pie I’d had before and proved to be terrible. (For the record, they were with some boiled carrots which I did semi-successfully using the ‘kettle method’ outlined the day before).

Well, my answer to this is; I do not know. All the packet had was the calorie listing, which proved to be as fucking useless as I predicted a few days before. I went online, thinking ‘well at least it will be there’ (which I have done successfully with a few other products, like the scotch pies). But nothing. Went to the supermarkets own website. Tells me ‘it is available on request’, if I email them for it.

This I refuse to do. Firstly, this was on a Saturday and I’d vowed this post would be done by Sunday, so the chances of a reply in time were slim. But more importantly; why the hell should I have to chase this up? These pies are a regular product of the supermarket’s ‘deli’. Even if the details were (for whatever reason) not listed on the packet you could have easily have put it on your website. But no. Pray tell me, why is this? Laziness? Or are you hiding just how nutritionally shit your products are? This also happened with the ‘chorizo chicken’ right at the start of this experiment.

*takes a breath*

Anything else? Oh, I picked up a half-kilo of close-dated protein powder at half my usual price, which along with the cheese I bought (for later marrying with potatoes) bumps up my daily spend, though also got some slightly cheaper apples too. On acceptance that this was the end of the experiment, did one last clear-out of the fridge (just like I did a clearout before the experiment). Only casualty was a few mushrooms.

Conclusions: The stats for this day are guestimated (well, more guestimated than usual); I’ve had to approximate the chicken pies. As you can see, I just missed the salt and saturates limit; I shall point out that my consumption that day had been unusually ‘good’ before that – hit the five-a-day today.

Energy	2515 cal
Fat	75g
…which is saturates	21g
Carbohydrate	286g
…which is sugars	132g
Fibre	39g
Protein	95g
Salt	6.2g
Items Consumed	£1.83
Items Bought	£6.19
Items Disposed	£0.15

Final Thoughts

So, once again we have the total consumption cost of;

Condiments	£2.75
Coffee / Tea	£2.19
Milk	£1.83
Barred Products	£1.76
Meat	£1.64
Fruits	£1.57
Cheese	£1.10
Starchy Staples	£1.01
Vegetables	£0.95
Peanuts	£0.83
Fake Meat	£0.76
Protein Powder	£0.64
Baked Beans	£0.60
Egg	£0.60
Sugar	£0.50
Premade Products	£0.45
Cereals	£0.47
Bread	£0.35
Total:	£20.00

Again, this is not strictly accurate, due to the fact that ‘condiments’ is a large grab-bag of low-consumption items but nevertheless, do need occasional replacement (I defend this spend on the basis the boring dishes would have been inedible without them and thus, their removal would be a false economy). However, I also disposed of £3 of food too – almost all being deteriorated old fruit and vegetables. I ‘spent’ in cash terms £23.47, so in total my ‘kitchen reserves’ are 47p ahead. (You may wonder why I’ve done this; it’s to ensure I am not massaging the figures by running down pre-bought reserves which are not counted in the totals).

Much of the ‘loss’ has been from the fruit department; it’s true that I’ve eaten less this week than last and thus, didn’t hit the mandated ‘5 a day’ thing (why is it that?). But not as much as you’d think; I was relatively lucky in my ‘foraging’. The result is predictable; while I’ve managed to squeeze my bill down to £2.86 a day, it’s at the cost of insufficient greenery. I’ve also managed to increase my average daily calorific intake by 90; which points to a very simple issue which I’ve started to highlight statistically – that the cheapest diet of all is generally the nutritionally shit one.

What else did I learn? Well, that meat – and meat replacements – were expensive. In fact, I only had three portions of meat in the second week if you discount what meat was within the pies. What’s more, I wouldn’t have been able to afford them at all if not ‘bargains’. That frankly throws a spanner into many traditional British meal plan; the ‘meat, starchy carb and veg’ combis. More concerning is that it slices off one of the main sources of protein.

But other sources often cost too. Cheese, milk, eggs, nuts; all come in with relatively high costs per kilo. That even with all the cost-savings my protein budget was again about 30%; and partly why I resorted to using protein powder to fortify otherwise protein-poor dishes.

This being one of the key lessons from this experiment; that nutrient density was more important than mere cheapness – which was one of the reasons I never brought anything like crisps. In fact, I lost a kilo during the experiment; now, I could stand to lose a kilo or ten but it ultimately means this diet was unsustainable long-term (even more so if I’d avoided the ‘gorge moments’).

Limitations?

With hindsight, this experiment was not designed as well as I’d intended. The most glaring issue was the simple fact that a lot of the items I bought were reduced-cost and so not representative – I am not one who shall peddle the ‘I could do it, so can you!’ line. That naturally, reduces the value of my whole experiment.

This also damages one of the key ‘food economy’ advice given; to make meal plans and stick to them when buying items. But that does not really work when much of what is for dinner is down to the lucky dip of the bargain bin. Shopping lists are similarly limited in value. My solution to this is simple; to have ‘reverse shopping lists’ i.e. listing what you already have in the kitchen rather than what you don’t. The logic here is simple; that if you know what you’ve got on-hand already, you can instantly start coming up with ways to fit in those bargain eggs, cheese or peaches in. Shopping frequently helped this; it meant that when it came to perishables, I usually didn’t have much on-hand to waste.

Another issue is the fact that despite my diligence, not all my costs have been calculated. I take both a generic multivitamin and an omega-3 supplement; the latter vital as I consume nil fish or seafood. The price; about 70p a week which shall be needed to be found.

Then there’s my water. I use a filter, due to the fact I live in one of the most limescaley parts of the land. No, it really does help me to actually drink the stuff, and to make food/drinks taste nicer – not just a bourgeois affection. But still, that’s another 75p a week.

Lastly, there’s the issue of electrical costs. I did try to keep them down, but I didn’t do it scientifically and so I’m sure I made some mistakes there. Perhaps one day I’ll work it out properly, but that’s not today.

Full Circle

But back to the original question; what is the realistically minimum level of cash a person needs to spend weekly for a nutritionally balanced diet? After my little experiment I shall say as of April 2022 that number is £25 a week. Yes, I know you did it on almost half this but you know what? Bet you couldn’t stick to it for three months. What’s more, your meals are mainly fucking laborious and at least you’re cooking for two so seems more a worth use of time. Also, that was three years ago now. Lastly, I could get it down to £20 if needs be so there’s not so much between us – I provided the extra £5 as a little bit of a margin to cater to personal preferences and the occasional substitution (I’d budget another £5 a week if packed lunches are required).

Though there are similarities between us both; near-vegetarian diets that are generally dull, limited and time-consuming. If having to draw up a shopping list, I’d select a lot of wholemeal bread, full-fat milk, peanuts, rolled oats, baked beans and eggs. Then I’d supplement with chickpeas, tomato puree, mushrooms, onions and a couple of types of fruit and veg. I generally avoided potato, pasta and rice because of their high cooking times; perhaps if I’d owned the suitable items for the microwave I’d used them more.

Which is perhaps the main point; the ownership of the kit to do this stuff. That’s more an ask than you’d think. 10% of British homes don’t have a freezer. 5% don’t have a cooker (like I didn’t for the experiment). Scarily, around 3.5% don’t have a refrigerator. The kitchen might be short of basic kit like sharp knives, ironware and heatproof receptacles. Then there’s a deficiency in ‘knowledge’; a pile of chickpeas or oats doesn’t automatically suggest meals to folks who don’t really know much scratch cookery.

I find it interesting that my £25 a week is so much more than all but one of the figures I gave from my original ‘Eating When Poor‘ post. It testifies to two things; not just the significantly higher than reported inflation in perhaps the last decade (though it’s possible my figure is more accurate than any of my examples). but also the simple fact that when you are this poor, no, the healthy option does cost more. And invariably, almost any ‘saving’ cash-wise comes at a price; either more time, more cooking and/or more fuel cost.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my Essays series.

Eating While Poor: 2022 Challenge (Part 1)

I do try to review and refresh old blog content to keep it relevant; and this week it was the turn of ‘Eating While Poor’. While expanding said content and commenting on one of the (new) examples, a mini-litany of complaints towards it built up; one of the main ones being that nobody was taking into account cooking costs – of particular interest right now with news that people are turning away free root vegetables and potatoes simply because they can’t afford the long cooking times for them.

So, I hit up Google and the like – and don’t find anything. Admittedly, I didn’t search very hard. But it’s quite possible such a thing doesn’t exist. And what does a marginally-competent blogger interested in things like fitness, diet and poverty do when encountering such a gap?

Yep. Welcome to my own, personal ‘Poverty Diet’ challenge.

Da Rules

The following have been written with the various weaknesses in the other challenges/plans in mind. While I accept I can’t do this perfectly, I can at least make a decent attempt to produce a semi-reliable result. Therefore…

#1: While I will be keeping a tally of what I spend, the headline number will be the price of what I consume. This – hopefully – shall help to give more reliable figures, allowing me to eat a more realistic diet without cheating the numbers (by say, stocking up on stuff before the challenge or anything).

#2: The price of foodstuffs disposed of shall also be calculated. I don’t think there’s much actual waste going on, but I’m curious to just how much.

#3: Various ‘low use’ items condiments, herbs, spices etc won’t be calculated on consumption, but I’ll factor in replacement spending for new items on the assumption in the long run this evens out.

#4: ‘Bargains’ are factored in at their lower price if they are available to the general public. Otherwise, they’re charged at the rate shown at the Aldi website.

#5: I shall focus on the cheapest items with acceptable quality. Sometimes, the cheapest stuff is so poor it’s actually a false economy to purchase, as well as increasing the feelings of truly ‘in the shit’. This is a ‘poverty diet’, not a ‘right on the edge’ one.

#6: As part of the challenge is whether it’s possible to eat a healthy diet when poor, I shall also be keeping a tally of the nutritionals. Yep, a food diary too.

#7: As I am ‘very poor’, this means I’m very conscious of keeping costs low. This means that I will be acutely aware of how expensive it is to cook foodstuffs and thus avoid items which require long periods of heat etc.

#8: Lastly, on the learning that quite a few folks lack kitchen appliances, I am going to limit myself even further. In this challenge, I do not have an oven. Instead, I have a two-ring hotplate which I borrowed from a bemused relative (‘but it’s kind of shit?’) for this challenge. I also have a microwave, so it’s not that bad.

So, here we go…

First Day

The first thought – while making the morning coffee – is that I don’t actually know how much loads of stuff costs. Like the price of the coffee I’m about to drink. While drinking that with a fibre bar, I do the maths; it’s 11.5p a cup. Didn’t realise that. Did a cup of tea too, for comparison; 3.6p. This is made easier by the fact I’ve already measured out the ingredients for both in the past for my food diary waay back.

Home working in the morning – another coffee and an apple happens. Realise I’ve got to go out to the Post Office; decide to pop into a discounter’s next door afterwards – see if they’ve got anything good. Realise that I don’t really know what I need to get. Shit. Being this poor seems to need more planning than my usual methods. Did spy a wholemeal loaf and some sandwich thins on ‘final markdown’ and get these, putting them in the freezer on getting home.

Afternoon I’m out at work. Normally, I’d buy something while out, but conscious of the prices of stuff, I have an early lunch at home first. Manage to find some slightly staled up pitta breads, a bit of cucumber and cream cheese. Toasted and with some herbs on it, rather nice. Though run out of onion granules, shit.

On way home from work, go via town and some shopping – now I’ve got a better idea of what I’ve already got on-hand. I need to find some barred items for ‘on site’ workdays; locate from a pound store some decent enough plain flapjacks and my beloved Mr Toms to see me through a bit. A visit to a beauty shop leads me to find a 4-pack of short-dated protein bars. Per unit will be 50p, so okay enough. Plus, shall allow a review to be done while I’m on the challenge.

I’ve already been to four shops by this point and I’m more tired than I’d normally be. The answer is simple; I’m having to look at everything; trying to find the best deal, if there’s any offers and so on. The supermarket which I got the onion granules from showed me an issue; even after the reduction for quick sale done, the items were still more expensive than the discounter from earlier.

By this point I’m hungry as hell. That early lunch was simply too long ago, I’ve come to realise too I didn’t have a proper breakfast either and remembering I have walked around 8km by this point. Have to eat a protein bar to tide me over as I set off for home.

Go via another supermarket; remembering that it was about the time for their discounting. I was right; find 100g of cooked beef for 55p. Ah, beef pittas (without cooking) it is, then. Get a lettuce and some mustard to finish it off. And a couple of bananas. And some cheap apple juice.

Have a large cup of cocoa coffee while I finish up at home, along with a banana. Like doing the food diary (showing my calorie deficit was rather serious) and the budget (ouch! This challenge isn’t going to last long if that spend is that high).

Some time after dinner, still feel hungry. Have a couple of pieces of toast to tide me over. Crap, use the last of the jam which I can’t afford to replace.

Conclusions: If I’m allowed to count the apple juice as another portion, I got my five-a-day. By my estimation, I’m about 140 calories under for my activity level. Everything else was within reasonable limits, though.

Energy	2060 cal
Fat	38g
…which is saturates	14g
Carbohydrate	315g
…which is sugars	118g
Fibre	45g
Protein	95g
Salt	5.75g
Items Consumed	£3.53
Items Bought	£9.03
Items Disposed	£0.00

Second Day

Day off. Use this as opportunity to make a sausage sandwich for breakfast. Plus, remember yesterday. Decide to cook two lots, so I can have the other half for lunch (and save on cooking costs). Good news; I had a load of Cauldrons in the freezer, that I’d picked up cheap a couple of weeks back. With a fried onion, the other half of the lettuce from yesterday and the cheap frozen bread. Pleasant enough; though by late afternoon felt the energy shortfall, so had a peanut bar to tide until dinner.

Made the trek over to the other discounter’s; justified in this case otherwise I’d be going for a run. Plus, I’d run out of tea bags. Got a jar of peanut butter for toast in the future, as well as more bananas, fibre bars, cream cheese and a cucumber (to replicate yesterday’s lunch at some point). Then I swung past my usual supermarket on the way home.

I know I shouldn’t have. I knew the result in advance. But I needed to show you. For they’d done a mass reduction on their ‘hot food counter’, and I bought a pair of scotch pies. Two for 16p. I could see grease-stains on the damn bag. And I still got them. Even when a bloat-man had to manoeuvre his colossal gut so he could reach pie (clearly, what he needs more of right now). They also had some ‘chorizo chicken’, which I ended up consuming that night as a snack.

Well, I had said pies with a little tin of peas (pies re-heated in microwave, like the peas); it was pleasant enough, but hell, I could taste the pastry, grease and salt. Not much meat either, really. Not surprised, now I’m reading that it’s only 11% beef. That chicken… well, I’m not sure how bad that was, really because I found no nutritional listings for it. So I’ve guestimated (conclusion; okay, not not great).

Conclusions: If onion counts, I got my five-a-day. But those pies fucked everything up. They are to blame for the serious ‘bust’ on both the saturates (69% of total) and salt (38% of total). Lesson here being; basically, don’t have them. Even one by themselves is very nutritionally iffy. Got the ‘daily price’ down by 20%, though. All it cost was my arteries, apparently.

Energy	2284 cal
Fat	70g
…which is saturates	23g
Carbohydrate	291g
…which is sugars	75g
Fibre	35g
Protein	106g
Salt	11g
Items Consumed	£2.70
Items Bought	£5.27
Items Disposed	£0.00

Third Day

Half-day; morning work from home, afternoon free. Did the now familiar fruit/coffee/fibre bar combo until lunch, which was a beef/cream cheese sandwich thins with cucumber. Pleasant enough. Afternoon of ‘pottering’; getting a few of those annoying little jobs done. That was the problem. Kept on snacking, after I’d made a peanut butter on toast around 3PM. Mainly on said peanut butter. Sign that I think my body is craving energy. Or just greed. Which is how I emotionally took it on seeing half the jar gone. Well, that was a shit idea…

As a penance (of sorts) I decided to have a light(er) dinner; did myself my own instant noodles; a ready-to-wok pack, with a little bit of protein powder, herbs/spices and a couple of salt-free stock cubes. The protein powder was a bit of a problem; in the end decided to treat it like coffee and have a ‘per use’ price using the cheapest soya brand I can stand. After consuming, learned said noodles was not as calorific than expected. But more expensive. Well, we live and learn.

Pudding was half a bottle of peaches in juice that I found at the back of my cupboard – I’d forgotten all about it, on the basis I’d not bought it. Was about six months out of date, but I reasoned that I was poor now and thus, must try them before disposing. They appeared fine, so had half of them.

Conclusions: Four fruit/veg today. That amount of peanut butter seriously screwed up things – price and calories. But problem is; without it, I’d have been in a clear calorific deficit. Also, fibre levels not that great. Plus, I am still spending too much. Plus side; salt intake pretty good.

Energy	2260 cal
Fat	93g
…which is saturates	20g
Carbohydrate	234g
…which is sugars	119g
Fibre	31g
Protein	102g
Salt	2.6g
Items Consumed	£3.45
Items Bought	£0.00
Items Disposed	£0.00

Fourth Day

Oversleep. Not seriously, but enough that I have to hurry out the door for work. Coffee and the other half of those peaches for breakfast, chuck in a flapjack, fibre bar and a couple of bits of fruit in my bag while leaving. Have a cup of tea while there, which is at least free.

Do a bit of a detour on the way home; pop into a discounters for milk and apples. Decide to get some pears too, hoping to avoid the ‘peanut butter’ issue again. Successfully resist urge to buy biscuits. Come out three quid lighter. Tried a the cheap-type of pear I bought on way back; pleasant enough.

Remember that it was about time for my local supermarket to (hopefully) do their reduction thing, so went in there too. Not much, but did get some mushrooms cheap. Remembered to swipe a couple of paper bags on way out to store them in so they last longer.

Egg sandwich thins for an early dinner, making up for the semi-absence of breakfast; I’m kinda getting bored of variants of sandwiches as meals. Spend a couple of hours getting to know my dumbbells better, post-workout snack being a packet of curried chickpeas I’d found in the cupboard (if nothing else, I’m clearing the backlog…) which at least felt a bit substantial for once.

Conclusions: Four fruit/veg today. Sugars way up, due to pear and flapjack. But at least they’re mainly natural, spread across the day and being used. I honestly don’t see much that a nutritionist could bitch at, though protein could do with being a touch higher. But I’m seeing a trend here; even when I vary my foods, I can’t really get the total price down.

Energy	1983 cal
Fat	59g
…which is saturates	15g
Carbohydrate	301g
…which is sugars	162g
Fibre	47g
Protein	60g
Salt	3.3g
Items Consumed	£2.92
Items Bought	£3.45
Items Disposed	£0.00

Fifth Day

Half-day again, this time in reverse. Have an All-Bran knockoff for breakfast with a spoon of sugar for a change. Vaguely surprised to realise on computation that it’s a bit cheaper per-serving than I thought. Normal round of coffee / apple / fibre bar / tea, until lunch which is a cream cheese sandwich; the repetitiveness of some of this is starting to get to me. Now time to get down to work; slogged away for a bit, another coffee and the final banana (water too, but I don’t count that) during. Then went out for a bit to finish what needed to be; came back and had a peanut butter sandwich and a chocolate coffee.

Afterwards went on what is now becoming my routine; the walk to the nearest supermarket to see what early-evening bargains they have. I’m not going to pretend everyone can do this; mine is a little less than a half-hour round trip and the weather so far has been decent. Plus, less need to do ‘artificial’ cardio, eh? I’m rewarded; find a half-kilo of baby tomatoes. Remember to swipe another paper bag for storage in the fridge.

Later that evening, decide to actually do some proper cooking. Ideally, something not a sandwich. Think this decision was decided when I suddenly got a strong hankering after chips. Decide to do the other half of those frozen Cauldron sausages with mushrooms and onion in a kind of stir-fry, so to only use one ring. Threw in a bit of tomato ketchup and some of the tomatoes bought earlier. It was quite delicious, more so because it had more than three ingredients.

But once again, the lack of starchy carbs is telling on me; end up snacking on yet another peanut bar before bed.

Conclusions: Six/seven portions today, depending whether you count tomato ketchup as a vegetable. Salt close to recommended maximum; those meat-replacement sausages took up a third by themselves. Saturates aren’t too shabby, though. Or fibre. And the ‘can’t reduce spend’ trend continues…

Energy	1949 cal
Fat	63g
…which is saturates	14g
Carbohydrate	238g
…which is sugars	143g
Fibre	51g
Protein	90g
Salt	5.7g
Items Consumed	£2.98
Items Bought	£0.44
Items Disposed	£0.00

Sixth Day

Day off. A bit of a lie-in, then gear up with the usual routine. Get drawn into stuff enough I forget breakfast and only realise at lunch. Well, it happens. Said breakfast/lunch is some porridge, done in the microwave with a bit of spices, brown sugar and a bit of protein powder to bulk it out. While eating it, calculated it to cost 38p.

Spend half the afternoon doing a little digging online on ideas on how to try to cut cost without nutrition; come across stuff like the ‘Stigler diet‘ and a blog post trying to replicate it for the modern day. Okay, I suck at higher mathematics but I can at least do counting; let’s see if I can do this more scientifically yet come up with edible meals…

First question; what should I be consuming? As in, nutritionally? After consulting a few sources, I come up with;

Energy:	2300 cal
Fat:	52-90g
Saturated Fat	<20g
Carbohydrate:	259-374g
Proteins	58-202g
Fibre:	25g>
Salt	<6g

Okay. So far, I’ve done fine for all of these, with the exception of the saturates and salt on Day 2. The average calorific consumption is 2107; normally this would be a concern but my calculations show that between changing my milk and cream cheese to full-fat editions, the increased calories from which should be enough.

Spend a half-hour or so mucking about items to see if I can get the price down further without screwing up the macros (while consuming an apple; a cheaper kind now as the shop had them on a special). Answer; not really, at least not without dropping the pretence of them being, well meals (one plan had me eating 8 slices of bread a day. Minus any accompaniment). Single biggest offender on this list is in fact fruit and vegetables; yes but that only works because I’m not measuring the vitamins, minerals and so on. The next suggestion is less alarming, though rather boring; eat lots more porridge.

The time for my usual foraging arrives; thank God, I found a load of cheap clementines. And some reduced cooked sausages. And a French stick. Well, despite the hope it’s sandwiches again for dinner. And judging from the size of the stick, tomorrow too.

Clearing out the fridge points out a couple of casualties; some mushrooms and a couple of lemons I’d forgotten about. And I was doing so well until now…

Conclusions: I can’t have white bread again; it’s the wholemeal stuff which is keeping the fibre rating high enough. As already worked out, porridge helped me sneak under two quid, the cheap cooked sausages doing much of the rest.

Energy	2136 cal
Fat	53g
…which is saturates	10g
Carbohydrate	297g
…which is sugars	104g
Fibre	19g
Protein	76g
Salt	5.8g
Items Consumed	£1.98
Items Bought	£1.16
Items Disposed	£0.46

Seventh Day

Working from home day. Have some of that leftover French stick for breakfast with some cream cheese and cucumber; well, I can’t waste it and is likely to taste worse later on. At least the condiments applied made it taste of something. Had the last portion of the stick as a snack later on with a bit of margarine; nothing more than a bit of ballast to help me keep on going. The hankerings for carbohydrate and sugars is becoming more pronounced as this experiment goes on; a sign that yesterday’s calculations are correct regarding the calorific deficit.

My late lunch is another protein porridge; this time with a bit more protein and a bit of cocoa powder to bulk it up a bit. Tasty enough; and powers me though my workout session after the work of the day is done. After a snack of a pear and the last third of the apple juice, then get ready to head out for my daily ‘forage’. Discovered; a pack of cheap apples and some fake meat strips I’ve had before. Their very low cost wasn’t the only factor which swayed me; it was also the fact it could be eaten cold (and thus save cooking costs).

Dinner is another ‘proper’ cooking session; a stir-fry, with a pepper I had from a week or so ago. And other bits, obviously. And some chilli sauce I bought cheap ages ago. It was certainly nice to have an actual meal for a change, though I’m now spending half my time hungry. Pudding is one of the new-found apples, nice enough. As become a bit of a tradition now; late-night snack of a couple of spoons of peanut butter.

Conclusions: Perhaps for the first time, my macros are sufficient on all fronts; got my five-a-day, came in under the saturates and salt limit and so on. Perhaps a bit over on the calorie front; either the pre-made chilli sauce or the apple juice should have been removed (but as I was in deficit much the previous days, perhaps not so much an issue). Much of the fibre is down to the fake beef, which nicely counteracts the lack of fibre from the second half of the French stick.

Energy	2491 cal
Fat	52g
…which is saturates	13g
Carbohydrate	368g
…which is sugars	174g
Fibre	38g
Protein	101g
Salt	5.5g
Items Consumed	£2.77
Items Bought	£0.66
Items Disposed	£0.00

Final Thoughts

So, my week’s spend, in the style of the original ‘Eating While Poor’ post, was the following;

Fruits	£3.79
Condiments	£1.95
Vegetables	£1.91
Coffee / Tea	£1.90
Milk	£1.40
Barred Products	£1.40
Meat	£1.32
Fake Meats	£1.30
Fibre Bars	£0.90
Cream Cheese	£0.88
Noodles	£0.80
Bread	£0.78
Peanut Butter	£0.77
Protein Powder	£0.64
Fruit Juice	£0.60
Sugar	£0.44
Chickpeas	£0.40
Egg	£0.30
Cereals	£0.23
Premade Products	£0.16
Total:	£21.87

This is £1.54 more than my weekly ‘products consumed’ listing; part of this is down to rounding but mainly due to the non-calculation of most condiments and so on. Throw in the 44p I threw away, it would appear that my house lost £1.97 of ‘stored food’ when taking the consumption/disposal and purchase numbers together.

I can explain the relative high coffee costs; I have standards and won’t drink instant. Kerrie had her Coca-Cola, well I’ve got my nice ground arabica. The main cost; the 26% spent on fruit, veg and fungi. Forms of protein took another 30%; I think you’ll agree on the whole I’ve got a lot of bang for my buck here. What’s more, there’s precious little actual waste; either from what is eaten or what is thrown away.

Which is an important aspect for doing this challenge; normally, we’re interested in cutting calories, choosing the less fattening foodstuffs. Not here. In fact, you need to find the most nutrient-dense foods, weighing up their worth not just on price per kilo/whatever, but also how many macros they can provide. Once again, the ‘Stigler diet’ in action. Could it be that if you’re extremely poor you should have butter?

Like I was fully expecting, this diet proved to be gruelling – physical and mental. I had to go out shopping every day and what’s more, planning future meals were difficult because I was quite confined not just by my limited cooking capabilities but what was on offer. The mental stresses was more surprising; the constant trying to find the ‘best bargain’, trying to work out which item is the best value and so on was tiring. However, at very least many of my meals were somewhat tasty, due to my ‘excessive’ spend on condiments and so on. Though I’m rather tired of bread products. Yet even then, I still got quite a lot of cravings, as I’ve explained.

I’ve decided to continue this experiment for another week; to see if I’m able to squeeze any more cash out of this diet, to get my daily cost below the current level of £3.12…

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my Essays series.

Right To Repair?

So, in a action which independent repair staff, greenies and frugalities will all celebrate, the European Union’s new ‘Right to Repair’ legislation will come into force; which the UK had agreed back in 2019 to copy (though it’s somewhat irrelevant even if the UK hadn’t, as we’re lumped under the ‘European bloc’ with supply chains).

Normally, I don’t cover news reports but this one I feel is both of sufficient interest and was lost within the noise of a rather busy news weekend to be worth talking about. Plus, what reports I saw weren’t that great in the first place.

So, What Is It?

These new regulations, in a nutshell stipulate that consumer products – such as TVs, washing machines, refrigerators etc – must…

– Not be made in a manner which can’t be disassembled using ‘normal tools’. Example; no more sealing product within a plastic case which can’t be removed without breaking it.

– Have repair manuals made freely accessible.

– Spare parts to be supplied for at least ten years.

Naturally, these are regulations which the appliance industry fought tooth and nail against – with good reason. And the ultimate reason is utterly predictable.

In It For The Money

Firstly, most companies have a vested interest in you buying more of their product, and to be frank well-made, durable items simply don’t carry the margins, like I noted with disposable razors last year.

The main problem is of reverse ‘false economies’; the person who pays £40 for a pair of cheap shoes that last a year isn’t usually going to spend £400 on a pair that lasts ten – let’s say they only spend £300. If the ‘profit margin’ for both shoes are equal (say 10%) this means the ‘cheap shoes’ generate £40 of profit in a decade, while the ‘expensive shoes’ generate £30.

Bad for the planet, bad for you – but good for business, no?

The other side is that of the very lucrative ‘aftermarket’. That when the company deigns to make the product repairable (which is a must for some big-ticket items, like say cars) it looks to ways to limit or completely eliminate the competition. Warring against the independent repairer, making stupid warranty claims, having private supply chains, making all the parts proprietary and so on. Meaning that you’re forced to trudge to the ‘authorised service’ people, who more often than not will leave you with a massive bill only marginally less than the original cost of purchase. Or to be told it’s ‘uneconomic to repair’ (as in; the company has made it so).

This is predictable, when you end up with a free market without the aspect of free competition.

A Limited Victory?

I’m not going to dump on this victory – for it finally enshrines a principle of the ‘right to repair’ in EU law – but it is very limited in scope.

There’s a myriad of products – most notably phones and laptops – not covered in the directive. It doesn’t say that the spare parts need to be of reasonable cost, or does it allow generic copies of said parts to compete on price or quality. Lastly, it doesn’t actually demand that the product’s designed life-span (ie before repairs are needed) must be increased.

Unintended Consequences?

One thing which nobody in the professional media noticed is the fact that this directive will make unit costs for said appliances higher at the bottom end of the market. Good products – like my £300 shoes above – are usually already made in a manner which facilitates repair and are usually long-supported by the manufacturer. However, it’s de facto made my £40 shoes illegal as they aren’t designed to be repaired.

Naturally, this will hurt people on low incomes disproportionately, similar to when the energy-efficient lightbulbs came along around twenty years ago and they found their ‘lighting costs’ going from around 50p a bulb to £4.00. This is an classist aspect of the coming ‘green revolution’ which has not been really addressed yet which I discuss in more detail here.

On the other hand, this directive may in fact rejuvenate the second-hand consumer goods market, something which has generally been dying for some thirty years – I mean, when was the last time you saw a TV repairman? The car market can be cited here; build quality has generally improved hugely in said decades, but even then not that many people buy new cars and run them all the way to the scrap-heap – in fact, the normal life-cycle is usually three or four owners before it’s in auto heaven.

A Changing Model?

This is the ultimate goal for the ‘circular economy’; in which items such as appliances are maintained, repaired and upgraded over their lifetime, which is measured in decades. A world of more hand-me-down appliances, used emporiums and the independent repair personnel.

The problem is that this is in direct contradiction of consumerist capitalism, and it cuts a lot of corners to make it ‘affordable’ for poorer consumers, such as sweatshops and planned obsolescence. Even something more ethically neutral as ‘economies of scale’ will be hurt in a world because it’s obvious that if you extended the standard lifespan of televisions from 5 to 10 years, the yearly demand for them will be half than before.

Yet, consumer mindsets need to change too. There’s so much stigma regarding second-hand items (generally) which means that, say a company trying to sell used white goods would have a rather tough job of it right now. And not all of this is due to consumerist propaganda stoking demand for ‘new stuff’ – but genuine scepticism of quality, remaining life-span and product support.

And while the European directive won’t sort all this out alone, it’s a start in the right direction.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions – save the paragraph regarding shoes, which is adapted from Terry Pratchett’s ‘Vimes Boots Theory‘. Part of my Frugality series.

Let’s Waste Money On: BCAA Supplements?

If you’ve not had these babies pushed at you by fitness stores, magazines, social media and influencers, well I wonder where the hell you’ve been for at least the last five years or so. But to put it bluntly; do you even really know what they are, what they do and where they come from? This isn’t as stupid a question as it first appears; after all, the scent of money has the depressing tendency to deaden the nerves and overrule little things such as facts. And supplements are one hell of a business – and the primary purpose of business is to make money.

First off, what they are. In a nutshell; BCAA’s are ‘branched chain amino acids’ – three chemicals (leucine, isoleucine and valine) which are required for body function. We can’t make these within our bodies (which is why they’re called ‘essential’), so they must be consumed – normally, through our diet. Or the pills or powder, if the companies have their way.

These chemicals are important because they’re critical regarding muscle growth / maintenance and delaying fatigue. This a scientifically proven fact. Therefore – the supplement industry argues – more BCAAs equal more lifts, miles run, larger muscles etc. Result; rats and bros shovelling down the stuff by the spoonful (and I’ll confess, I’ve done this myself in the past.)

But… it doesn’t work that way. It normally doesn’t, y’know.

The easiest way to understand this is to visualise the human body as a machine, one which has a general ‘tolerance range’ and a point somewhere within it which could be called ‘peak efficiency’. Ergo, it can have far too much of something as well as too little. Often, this over-consumption can be harmful – excess calories leads to fat, which if unchecked will lead to obesity and so on.

Biggest issue is that it seems that there doesn’t seem to be a scientific consensus on where this ‘sweet spot’ is (convenient, for the supplement industry!). The best reliable source I could find – Healthline – seems to guestimate it’s around 90mg per lb / 200mg per kilo of body weight; meaning a person of twelve stone (168lb / 76kg) should be consuming about 15 grams a day. Every day; not just on workout days; see it as akin to adding a touch of oil to a machine daily, not dumping a whole bottle on it every now and then. For like the oil, excess BCAAs will simply ‘drip onto the floor’, or in this case, simply get converted to energy (and possibly, then to fat if not immediately required). And this is stupid, as you’re paying for nothing – for there is no scientific evidence to show that ‘spot consumption’ of the stuff in any way improves performance.

The last question is the most critical; where do we get this seemingly magical stuff? That’s easy; you already are. For BCAAs are present in the vast majority of protein sources – both natural and artificial. While different protein sources have differing protein / BCAA ratios, there seems to be a decent guestimate ratio of 6:1 – that every six grams of protein provides one of BCAAs. Therefore, our twelve-stone example above will need to consume 90 grams of protein a day to get in the required 15 grams of BCAAs too. Speaking from experience, this could be met by a pint of milk, two eggs, a hundred grams of chicken, another hundred of lean beef and a half-tin of chickpeas. Not that difficult – and when you consider the possibilities of high-protein snacks and perhaps powders too, the message is clear;

You do not need to supplement your BCAAs if you are already getting ‘sufficient’ protein (though accept that consuming 75 – 115 grams of daily protein will be considered ‘excessive’ by most normal folks). To consume BCAAs on top of this is simply a waste of money.

Now, as with everything, there’s exceptions. Soya, for example appears to be rather BCAA-poor, which means those with restrictive diets may find getting in enough BCAAs an issue. There’s some evidence to show that they’re good for stimulating appetite; so it may help folks who are rather ‘off’ food in general. But these exceptions are the distinct minority. That for most, if you need more BCAAs, simply find a way to consume more ‘BCAA-rich’ protein, such as eggs, milk and their products.

That ultimately, the talk about BCAA supplements are simply another ‘overfitted’ niche product, being pushed for the purposes to commodify This Thing Of Ours even more than it already is. It’s been noted that the majority of instructors and nutritionists who do say more consumption is vital are the ones which unsurprisingly are connected – somehow – with supplement companies. Hmm, do you think one may be related to the other?

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions – though I do feel I’ve ‘done my homework’ on this subject. Part of my ‘Frugality’ series.

Gear Acquisition Syndrome

The scene is – I suspect – horribly familiar. You’ve popped into a fitness-related shop (either physical or online) for a single, worthy purchase. Let’s say, a new pair of running trainers. But you see the other sections of the shop, and well… why don’t we take a peek and see, right? After all, you’re already there; it requires almost nil effort.

Seeing all the new Shiny Things tempt you, as they’re supposed to. Say, the racks of gym clothes. Ooh, now that’s a funky-looking workout top. In my size, and can afford it too.

This is the point where you’ve crossed the line. You don’t need another workout top, but you want it. You swear you’ll love it and wear it all the time; but truth be told, if this was true it meant your current top selection was inadequate and chances are it would have been on your mental list, like the trainers.

You start to rationalise. It’ll allow you to make a cull of the older tops. It’s great value. It’ll help you work out better. It won’t be like the last time, no! You’re moving towards the checkout, performing the mental gymnastics and corkscrew logic to justify your purchase to yourself.

However, chances are it will end up like ‘the last time’. You get it, enjoy the ‘new Lycra smell / feel’ for perhaps three workouts. Then it gets lost in the jumble of your workout drawer along with the myriad of other exercise clothing you already possess. And if you’re like me, you’re more than not rummaging through it looking for that ultra-comfortable top which despite the fact it now permanently whiffs a bit you’re hanging on to because they don’t make it anymore.

It’s not your fault, strictly speaking. You just suffer from GAS – ‘Gear Acquisition Syndrome’. It’s a very common syndrome; in fact, the vast majority of us are sufferers, to some extent.

The Nature Of Your Problem

Is that you’re buying kit you frankly don’t need or don’t need enough to justify the price-tag. It’s a tendency which was – I believe – first noted amongst musicians, and having known a few, I’ll testify it’s completely true. But this syndrome is visible in almost all interests; from crafting to gardening, fishing to yes, fitness. Just go back a section and replace ‘workout top’ with say, ‘pasta maker’, ‘overdrive pedal’ or ‘camera lens’ and you’ll see what I mean.

The worst aspect of this syndrome is that it’s difficult to identify in a blanket manner. We can easily tell a person is a hoarder if their home is stuffed to the gills with decades of junk, or an alcoholic if you’ve often seen them drinking before noon. Not so with GAS.

Unfortunately, many interests and trades do require a ‘large amount of kit’ from an outsider’s viewpoint – to them ‘a saw is a saw’, while a skilled DIY’er will know different saws are for different materials. Even worse, ‘value’ is in the eye of the beholder; I would have near-nil use for a smoothie maker (not liking smoothies) but someone who had one daily would make good use of it.

This allows your GAS to hide in plain sight; knowing that you’re able to fob off outsiders with technobabble ‘explanations’ of why every object is required, or to simply say ‘you wouldn’t understand’. That in fact unless your GAS was at a critical level, the only other person who’d be able to diagnose you would be another within your interest, who probably has GAS themselves and would in fact make your situation worse (theirs too).

Selling Success

The primary culprit in development of GAS is from the businesses within ‘the interest’. As I’ve said before, the fitness industry is an industry and thus primarily motivated by the making of money. Therefore, their goal is to sell more product.

Unfortunately, there’s only so much kit a person really needs for their interest. In some, like fitness it’s actually pretty low; the only things I feel you must buy (if you don’t own already) to start off is a pair of trainers, tracksuit bottoms / leggings and a sports bra (if a gal) – everything else can be improvised. In fact, looking at some of the old athletes and bodybuilders back in the 50s you’d be shocked of how little kit they had to get to their peak.

Admittedly, kit can make your life easier. Weight-work goes much better when you’re lifting proper dumbbells, cardio more effective if you’ve got access to a cycling machine for those inclement days and so on. However, it’s a ‘law of diminishing returns’; you’ll get more ‘bonus’ from upgrading from makeshift dumbbells to vinyl free weights than when you upgrade from vinyls to cast iron.

What the industry does here is to artificially stimulate demand through advertising, sponsorship and so on. In short, it’s trying to sell you success. Good musicians own X, fit people use Y and so on. This then morphs in people’s minds to mean ‘you need to own X to be a good musician’. This is a delusion which the companies have no desire to dispel – for it shifts units.

This leads to the conclusion; the more kit you have, the better you must be. Which is patently stupid, for when it comes to fitness it’s judging folk on just one attribute – their wealth. A fat man doesn’t automatically improve their health by forking out ten grand for a full home gym, any more than an idiot can make themselves a genius by buying a few hundred books and leaving them in their front room.

Monuments To Failure

However, it’s an understandable stupid conclusion; after all, buying lots of new sleek gym gear is so much easier than y’know, actually spending that time in the gym. It allows us to develop some form of ‘status’; if a man owns lots of tools, it’s more likely he’ll be asked to play the guru (mistaking the possession of many tools for skill with them) than one without them. The well-appointed kitchen filled with racks of exotic ingredients and strange-looking tools will suggest the owner does ‘proper cooking’, even if in reality they only use the room to serve the takeaways.

We feel good about buying these things. We feel that this one more gadget is going to be ‘the one’ which gets us to our goal. Don’t get me wrong, I get this too, everyone does. Even the person who is completely ‘anti-GAS’ when in the shopping department often ends up simply accumulating gear almost unawares – I’ve done my best to fight the consumeristic corruption of fitness, but even so I’ve got a few items which I don’t really need but keep around because ‘it might be useful one day’.

It’s this which is why I call all this stuff ‘monuments to failure’. The piles of cookbooks and pasta-makers are testament to the people’s hankering to be able to make decent meals but can’t be bothered to put in the graft, like the bits of gym clothes at the forlorn corner of the wardrobe are reminders that you seemed to believe they alone would slim down your backside.

The Treatment

Is a relatively simple one – stop buying more kit. Close those browser tabs, bin the magazines. Remember the old adage; ‘the bad workman blames his tools (for their failure)’. That when you start out, get in the bare minimum – this Nerd Fitness article is pretty good (except I disagree with the kettlebell – I’d say leapfrog to a pair of vinyl dumbbell adjustables, on the basis the latter is more versatile) – and only get in individual pieces of better kit when you’ve clearly reached the maximum with your current stuff.

So, you’re in some ratty ancientness of clothing to workout in? Who cares? Look, if you’re in an environment where others are also working out, I’ll tell you we’re too damn busy to look and judge. Or should be. Though why the hell you’d care about the opinion of randos is a mystery to me. And if you’re on your own; who are you trying to impress?

Personally, I have the ‘three sentence rule’; that if I cannot explain why Item X will clearly improve my ‘fitness outcomes’ in less than that to another person and get them to agree, you don’t purchase it. Chances are, if you genuinely need a new item, you’ve realised long before you see one for sale.

Simply hoping that ‘you won’t buy that stuff’ won’t work, for the main point about GAS is you don’t buy the obvious crap, like say shake-weights or unsuitable trainers. Which makes it difficult to get rid of the GAS ‘accumulations’, as it can be argued that all the gear is needed.

* * *

This Thing Of Ours should not be another outpost of consumerism; something which discriminates on the size of the wallet alone. And I salute any and all who make it without falling prey to the dreaded GAS.

And consider this; if you’re not forking out all that extra cash on pointless kit, that’s less work you need to put in to earn that money. Time which can be used more productively, like… working out.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. I’ve not received anything for this review. Part of my ‘Frugality’ and ‘Essays‘ series.

Let’s Waste Money On: Shaving Cream?

A few months ago, I wrote how the average clean-shaven male can end up wasting perhaps eighty pounds-plus yearly on the implements to make sure he remained so; that is, on disposable razors. Yet I ignored the item on the other end – the shaving cream.

Just like how the disposable blades are a symbol of perhaps all that is wrong with the mass consumerism of the late 20^th Century, the can of shaving foam or bottle of gel is a suitably wasteful accompaniment. And just like the safety razor, the manufacturers decreed the older shaving soaps ‘obsolete’, and thus all but withdrew them from the market. To be replaced by one which offers higher profit margins and higher consumption levels.

Convenience & Mythos

I won’t lie; the modern method is convenient. A can or bottle can simply be decanted into the palm, then applied to face. Shave, rinse, the end. On the other side, the whole rigamarole involving the previous method became apparently increasingly arcane and confusing – particularly as ‘historical knowledge’ of it exited common memory. Something which Grandpa did. Or in an old-timey barbers. Which apparently takes ages to do, is expensive, has loads of strange accessories and requires much skill. I mean… it’s old. Modern method must be better, yes?

That’s the problem. It’s very difficult to make a prediction of how long/hard a task will be when said task is new to you. People also have a tendency to fall into habitual grooves, and shaving is one of them. There’s also a ‘sticker shock’ on the costs of buying the needed parts – which will be even higher if the only shop which stocks them only does the luxury end.

Pounds & Pence

The thing is, while the initial outlay is higher for the older ‘soap and brush’ method, it pays for itself from running costs.

First of all, we have the ‘normal’ cans of cream. If you’re efficient, you can get around fifty shaves out of a standard can. This means in a year you’ll spend approximately twenty pounds on cream; while gels are less per use, this is made up for by the higher price per unit.

On the other hand, a 100ml shave soap in a bowl will provide around six months worth of lather. Going with the only one commonly found in British shops, that’s around six pound a year. The cheap-but-functional synthetic brushes usually retail around five pounds and last around three years – so let’s say two pounds a year.

You don’t need to be a genius to notice that eight pounds a year is lower than twenty.

I’ll admit here that I am willing to pay for convenience – in which I’ll pay three quid for the soap in a bowl rather than buying the shave sticks which are half the price per 100g. If you’re willing to teach yourself how to use a ceramic shave bowl, your savings will be even higher!

Or… you can use your savings to buy from ‘a better shelf’ than you’d normally do. Hey, frugality doesn’t automatically mean ‘use cheap stuff’, more to ‘make your cash do as much work as possible’. I don’t object to nice stuff, if it’s worth paying for.

Sustainable Shaving

Just like reverting to safety razors, going back to the old lathering method saves waste. From before a year’s shaving would produce a carrier-bag full of old aerosol cans or plastic bottles; now all it will produce a bit of tin-foil and a couple of hard plastic tubs. There are some soap-makers who use wood or metal tubs, which are even easier to either re-purpose or recycle.

There’s also the fact that using soaps means you can have stronger input in what you apply to your face. You can go for soaps which are additive free, particular scents, no palm oil and so on. Hell, you can even make your own, if you’re so inclined. Oh, and I’ll mention that yes, there are companies out there who make nice ‘girly’ scented shaving soaps, too.

Downsides…

Naturally, there is a sting in all this good news. The main one being; you’ll have to learn new habits for shaving. Just like you need to open, clean and dry the safety blade after each shave, you’ll have to get into the habit of rinsing and drying your brush and/or bowl after each use. You’ll also need to remember that you’d need to leave it to dry before packing it away in say a travelling kit (which means it might be more viable to have a shave cream can for such events, if you travel frequently).

The way I deal with this is simple; I keep a series of small cloths, originally from an old microfibre running top on-hand. That I use one first on my face, then to get rid of the soap residue, then to clean the blade / bowl / brush, ending with me rinsing it out and leaving it to dry somewhere convenient.

You could use paper towels, but I found it wasteful. An old-school flannel would also do the trick, but I generally found it too heavy and sometimes wouldn’t dry out in time for the next use (esp in winter). A touch of lotion afterwards… and you’re set.

Conclusion

Using the above method, I find that now I’m scoring better results at around a quarter of the price that I used to with the ‘normal’ cans. Part of this is down to the use of safety razors, yes; but the change in soaps have helped too.

And the finish… is better than when I was paying four times the amount of money on it. For the companies told me I had to. And I was too stupid to question them.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my ‘Frugality’ series.

Let’s Waste Money On: Disposable Razors?

If I was to ever teach kids about economics, marketing and/or environmentalism, I’d devote a whole lesson on disposable razors. Perhaps ending with homework for each kid to find a similar product which was equally ecologically wasteful, massively overpriced, artificially hyped, riddled with “insider tricks” and with doubtful increased utility over the other options.

Some charge sheet, no?

#1: Ecologically wasteful. Made from plastics which are difficult to be recycled, using heads which can’t be at all. Coming in packets of more plastic on a frequent basis. Supporting this is the ancillary industries of the dye-makers and so on, so they can make said products all colourful and attractive. If you’re using “cartridge” razors (you simply replace the head, not the whole thing) it’s a little better, but still terrible for the planet.

#2: Massively Overpriced. The razor-makers are masters of the “extra value good”. They take an item which costs perhaps a few pence each to produce, then flog it for a pound plus. Even when you take into account R&D, capital costs of plant, shipping, a decent profit margin for all and so on – where is all that extra cash vanishing to?…

#3: Artificially Hyped. Answer: advertising, promotion and sponsorship. Those pro athletes, flashy sciency ads, the plum store displays and billboards ain’t cheap, y’know. The sign of just how much is shelled out is the fact that the razor-makers who don’t advertise – such as say the store own brands – can undercut the brands which do by fifty percent plus and still make a profit.

#4: Riddled With Tricks. Every razor system has a proprietary design; so they can sue any company which makes cheaper alternatives to the blade – which is called “lock-in”. They’re designed to be incredibly difficult to clean, so you’ll dispose of it even before it goes blunt – a feature which is known as “inbuilt obsolescence”. You give away the product dirt-cheap and then make the dough from selling the addons and consumables – it’s literally called the “razor and blades model”. Lastly, the products are marketed through the “confusopoly”; no objective comparisons with competitors are made or actual figures used – just a load of windy feel-good bollocks and made-up crap.

#5: Doubtful Increased Utility. All of these factors could be justified if the product was an obvious improvement over it’s direct predecessor – but they’re not. I’ve now been around long enough to say I’ve seen precious little improvement in razor technology since the ’90s… yet they’re still pricey as fuck – perhaps more so since then, what with the rise in oil (and thus, plastic and shipping) costs.

Yet… despite all this, we (on the whole) continue to use the suboptimal disposables. Which is weird; for the product it replaced – the double-edged safety razor – was in fact superior in almost every respect. No… it’s not weird, for the razor makers deliberately killed their older products off to get us all to shell out our hard-earned on their plastic drek instead.

Which is why I urge anybody who practices wet shaving – male or female – to try out the way our fathers (or grandfathers) did back in the day; with a double-edged safety razor.

Back To King Gillette?

Twenty years ago, this would have been almost impossible; the razor-makers had decreed the safeties were “obsolete”, and thus no longer stocked in the likes of supermarkets, chemists or similar. Even if by some chance you possessed a razor – perhaps one inherited from an older relative – getting new blades would be tricky. In 2020, I know of only two stockists in the UK – Sainsbury’s and Boots. And not every branch carries them, and frequently one or both of them are out of stock.

Naturally, this is not a problem with the wonders of the SuperWeb. In three minutes, I found both an austere but functional razor and a pack of ten blades (enough for around fifty shaves) for less than twenty quid. Let’s call that twenty-five, to include postage. What’s that, compared to the amount of cash you’ve been burning on packets of Mach3 refills at a pound-plus per blade all those years?

The other great thing is that there’s plenty of instructional videos out there explaining how you use said razor – I’ll be honest here, using it does require a bit more skill and change of tactics than your current disposables. But I seriously feel it’s worth it; for the following reasons;

#1: Ecologically better. I won’t claim it’s good, for the blades are still disposables and they do usually come in plastic packets. But the waste produced by them is much, much less. Plus; metal is recyclable.

#2: Reasonably priced. Double-edged blades have been generic for decades; meaning that the prices aren’t inflated by proprietary designs and lock-ins. Even when being bought in small quantities they work out at least half the price of the cartridges – and once you find a blade maker who you like, there’s nothing stopping you ordering them in larger quantities to take advantage of bulk discounts. Lastly, you’re not paying for the flashy ads or (generally) celebrity sponsorship.

#3: Easier to maintain. Everybody’s been in the position where a cartridge has got clogged up with gunk “before it’s time” and has to be junked. Not a problem for the double-edge blade – simply remove, wipe and replace.

#4: Superior shaving. I’ll say this about disposable razors; they’re easy to use and hard to fuck up with. But you pay for that with razor burn, irritation, ingrown hairs and poor / uneaven finish – particularly noticeable if you’ve got the dark hair / pale skin combo or you’re the type of guy who’s got a permanent five o’clock shadow.

Now, an old-school razor won’t solve all of these issues, but I’ve noticed after changing over is that the finish is better and the bumps and rashes are much less. The fact you can clean the blades better and afford to replace more frequently helps this too.

Taking the Plunge

Don’t be scared. A safety razor is not a straight razor, seen wielded by traditional barbers and gangsters for ear-cutting and Chelsea smiles. While the blade needs to be respected, it’s not awaiting to hack strips off your skin unless it’s broken or you’re using it really wrong (which the online videos are for). Nor is shaving with one a mythical art form; it took me perhaps two weeks to get back to the level of quality I was getting before with disposables, and a month after that to get results much superior.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my ‘Frugality’ series.

Let’s Waste Money On: Charcoal Toothpaste?

I’d been vaguely aware of such a product being around for the last year or two; I’m happy to admit I’m not au fait on the latest fads and trends – a quick search of the SuperWeb reveals that the general charcoal fad has been around for the best part of a decade now. However, a freak combination of factors prompted me to write this post; the fact that due to coronavirus-related shortages a charcoal toothpaste was the only available one in my price bracket in the shop and an acquaintance mentioning that ‘they’re a load of crap’.

And now I’m looking at it further; they do have serious issues.

First off, their ‘whitening’ claims. These ones are the most true; charcoal is a natural abrasive. But that’s the thing; abrasive. As in ‘wears away’. In this case, your tooth enamel. In layperson’s terms, that’s the hard coating of your tooth, protecting the softer stuff inside and your roots. It’s why you’re seriously warned against too much use of baking soda and other whitening products; in your quest to have pearly whites, you might end up making them sensitive as hell. Several dental organisations have warned that charcoal toothpastes are too strong for everyday use.

There’s also the issue of ‘deep staining’; when the discolouration has gotten below the enamel. And charcoal can’t do a thing about this; either by increasing the ‘surface whiteness’ to counteract it or cleaning the deep stains.

Next, there’s the issue of the charcoal particles in themselves. As you’d expect, they’re black in hue. If you have – for example – a hairline surface crack in your enamel somewhere, it’s very possible that the charcoal particles could end up getting lodged in said crack – making it more noticeable. Professionals are also unsure of the long-term effects of said particles on things like bridges, crowns and fillings.

The most serious issue, however may be the lack of fluoride in (most) charcoal toothpaste. Fluoride is the stuff which prevents dental cavities; which I think any sane person would agree is of more critical a worry than dental stainage. While some folk will be getting it elsewhere, for others (such as the ones living in areas with unfluoridised water supplies and/or don’t drink much of it) their toothpaste might be their only real source. Remove that, bring back the cavities.

Why isn’t it normally present in charcoal toothpaste? For it’s a product riding the ‘nature woo’ bandwagon, and as fluoride is not ‘natural’, it is Bad. It’s as simple – and stupid – as that. Now, while I feel that freedom includes the freedom to be stupid, I do object to when products – like the toothpaste in front of me – wraps themselves up in unsupported claims, pseudoscience and technobabble to trick the unwary.

Which is why on the vast whole, the dental profession have come out strongly against charcoal toothpaste. I am a touch more generous in my opinion of it now; that while I do not consider it a ‘toothpaste’ in what most folk define as such, I can see it having some merit as a ‘tooth whitening’ product, used sparingly say, once-twice a week or so as well as your normal paste. Though using baking soda would have the similar effect for a much lower price.

As everything on this blog, merely my own thoughts and opinions. Part of my Frugality series.